.5 Marathon

Next Sunday I will be running my very first half-marathon. I'm excited because it has been a long-term dream of mine. (next, a full marathon?!) I'm also frozen with terror. 13.1 miles is FAR. I will run 7 miles (FAR!) and be only half way there (FAAAARRR!).

On Friday I ran my first 11-miler. I honestly should have prepped much better for this race, but I don't plan to set any speed records anyways. I would just like to finish with all my limbs intact. Plus, this whole "knee injury out of nowhere" thing has really throw me for a loop.

For those not "in the know," I somehow managed to give myself patellofemoral tendinitis. There were no warning signs. I went for an easy 5 mile jog and came home feeling fine. It was my first time running on the streets in awhile, but nothing felt odd and 5 miles was pretty short after a 9-miler earlier that week. I went to Randall's, got food, made dinner, and sat down to watch some Hulu. When I got up an hour later, intense pain commenced. It kind of feels like a dull knife on the top of my kneecap. I am, understandably, very anxious about pain around my kneecaps.

I went to the doctor and she confirmed the tendinitis. I was a little freaked. I had trained (relatively) hard for this half-marathon and it sucked to think about not being able to even TRY. She reassured me that I could keep running as long as the pain didn't radiate up my knee. I tried to run 4 miles after a weeks rest and it was pretty intense pain from mile 2-4. Unfortunately I was running Town Lake and the pain started right at the turnaround. Either way I had to run two more miles.

With all that said, the 11-miler (technically 11.3, thank you very much) yesterday was pretty much pain-free! I'm hurting a bit right now but I'm heating and rubbing it with Arnica gel and resting. I'm hoping to get in a few more short runs before next Sunday, but it is on!

Bring it on, Livestrong Austin 1/2 Marathon!

Vanderbilt

I thought some people might get a kick out of this story, so I'm posting it here.

Vanderbilt Law is one of my top choices for next year. Great campus, nice buildings, excellent career opportunities, relevant clinics (experiential learning opportunities), likely to give me a scholarship, cool city, nice climate, and dog friendly. (see? it's pretty perfect) Thus, I really really wanted to get in and a couple people with very similar numbers were getting waitlisted. Now, waitlisting is not the end of the world but it can mean the end of chances of receiving money. Without a scholarship, Vanderbilt is considerably more expensive than UT (in-state + scholarship) and I probably couldn't justify choosing it.

Vanderbilt sends acceptances in 4 lb boxes via Fedex, usually arriving within 2-3 days of getting "Decision Letter Sent" on the online status checker. Waitlists and rejections come via regular mail and take much longer.

My online 'law school friends' had reported this situation earlier in a comical exchange:

Student 1: Fedex says I have a package coming. Does this mean I'm in?

Student 2: How much does it weigh?

Student 1: They said 4 lbs. That's good right??

Student 2: Looks like they sent you the rejection brick!

I laughed for a really long time at that mental image. (Student 1 was accepted, in case you were concerned)

My status turned to Decision Letter Sent on 2/7 yesterday. Understandably, I freaked out. A couple people had had luck calling FedEx and checking to see if a package was headed their direction so I thought I would try my luck. At least I wouldn't be stressing for the next couple days!

Here's how it went:

Me: Hi, I was wondering if a package is coming to me?

Fedex: Do you have a tracking number?

Me: No, is it possible to just check my address? Here it is _______

Fedex: It looks like it should arrive around Wednesday at 4:30

Me: IT'S REALLY COMING?

Fedex: Yes....it left Nashville at 8:00 this morning. It looks like it's from Vanderbilt Law School

Me: I GOT INNNNNNN!

Fedex: *nervous laughter* ....that's great?

Me: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh thank you so so much!

Fedex: ....ok great...have a good day?

Me: iloveyou bye

Haha. So I'm 0 for 2 on proper phone reactions to good news. For UT I said "hooray." Maybe next time?

I'm a bad blogger...

Well, it's official...I'm a horrible blog writer. Sorry (all 7 of you readers!)

Here's a little life update: killed the December LSAT (+9 points), Indy is awesome and currently shaved naked, still doing Agility classes, and still really enjoying my job at Dirty Dog.

Now a little expansions:

Law school:

In short, retaking in December changed my life. 9 points is huge on the LSAT and made a big difference in the schools I'm looking at. To put things in perspective, I barely got in to Wake Forest last year...this year I've received almost a full ride from them. I've been accepted at UT, Wake Forest, George Washington, Washington & Lee and Ohio State so far and I'm still waiting on a bunch more. If you are really really interested, you can check this out: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/akili

I'm not really planning on posting a ton about it on Facebook, so it might be a good way to keep track. If you care. No biggy.

Indy:

He's a goober but I love him. He's doing very well in Agility and today my mom is coming to see him in class which I'm really excited about. He can be a little crazy in person, so it's fun to show off his smart, focused side too. We still go to the dog park as often as possible. He's getting better with waiting on his bed when someone comes to the door and not jumping. We still have lots to learn though. Indy is officially a year old as of a week ago. He's definitely all puppy still though. Indy has been a huge blessing in my life this year and I'm so grateful for him in my life!

Dirty Dog:

I really enjoy it a lot. It's a fun job and requires quite a bit more brain power than I was expecting. Plus, PUPPIES! Today I got to play with a recently adopted chihuahua (trust me, he was stinking cute), two basset hounds, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Oliver. Looove it.

Other things:

I'm helping out at Covenant with the 7th grade girls d-group (whom I love!) and it's been wonderful. It's cool discovering Covenant again now that I'm an "adult"

I have lots of fun travel plans for this spring/summer. Hooray! Enjoying my last bit of freedom to roam the world. (slash the U.S.)